Vibhakar Shastri, grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday in Lucknow, hours after resigning from the Congress.
“I will work as an ordinary member of the BJP and strive to strengthen our party and the organisation,” said Mr. Shastri addressing the media at the BJP office in Lucknow. Present also were Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak, state BJP president Bhupendra Chaudhary and other senior BJP leaders.
Mr. Shastri thanked Prime Minister Modi, Uttar Pradesh CM Adityanath and other leaders for allowing him to connect with Lal Bahadur Shastri’s vision of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’. “I think under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, I will be able to serve the country by further strengthening Lal Bahadur Shastri’s vision of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’,” he added.
Earlier in the day Mr. Shastri announced his resignation on X. He addressed it to the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge: “Hon’ble Congress President Shri Kharge ji! Respected Sir, I hereby tender my resignation from the primary membership of Indian National Congress.”
Mr. Shastri fought three parliamentary polls on the Congress symbol in 1998, 1999 and 2009 from Fatehpur Lok Sabha constituency in U.P. and lost each time. In 2009, he polled 1,01,853 votes coming in fourth.
